Wednesday, September 10, 2008

News story illustrates that men and boys falsely accused of rape are viewed as nothing more than necessary collateral damage in the war on rape

Another girl's false rape claim causes a completely innocent man to be arrested.

What is so disconcerting is the fatalism of the police -- the attitude is this: "Too bad a man was subjected to that, but that's the price we pay to fight the war on rape." The man is unfortunate but necessary collateral damage in the grander, far more important war -- the war on rape.

How have we, as a society, reached this point?

When did we start to weigh the rights of the innocent based on the political correctness of the crime that victimizes them? Why can't all victims of serious crimes be treated as deserving of redress? And why do we seem to have zero interest in deterring the crime of making a false rape report?

First, girls need to be taught not to lie about rape. As a society we talk about the necessity to educate boys about sex, about respecting women's bodies, about the dangers of alcohol that can lead to rape. But we purposefully shy away from telling our girls about false rape claims. That is a loaded subject because the very discussion of it is deemed by some to be tantamount to denying that rape occurs far too often.

As if one has anything at all to do with the other.

Second, we need to reevaluate the entire process whereby a female, virtually any female, can deprive a male, virtually any male, of his liberty merely by accusing him of the vile crime of rape. And then, after the lie is outed, the police shrug their shoulders and say, "Oh, well, what a pity. But we aren't going to change anything." We need to have far more respect for the rights of the innocent-until-proven-guilty crowd -- for the garden variety acquaintance rape claim, why not restraining orders until the police investigation can be concluded?

Third, girls and women who tell rape lies need to punished far more severely, especially if their lie leads the police to target an innocent male. Early recantations must be rewarded, but a refusal to recant early must subject the false accuser to the harshest penalty possible.

Only then will it stop. Only then will we insure that the rights of the innocent are not tossed onto a scrapheap of indifference -- merely because the victim sports a pair of testicles.

A 17-year-old girl who falsely cried rape and sparked a major investigation by Kent Police has been convicted of perverting the course of justice.

The teenager was given a detention and training order for four months when she admitted the offence before magistrates in Maidstone.

The girl told police that she had been raped on August 27 this year while walking in Tonbridge Road, Maidstone.

She claimed an unknown man had grabbed her near the junction of Westree Road, where he carried out the sex assault.

Police set up a major incident room after the report and made several media appeals for information.

A man was arrested on suspicion of rape and questioned by police before being released on bail.

The investigation about to him was later dropped. Senior Investigating Officer, Det Ch Insp Anne Brittain, said: “We take any report or allegation of rape extremely seriously and instigate a full investigation.

“We set up an incident room where we had a large team of officers and support staff investigating the allegation.

“It was through the investigation that it became clear it couldn’t have happened as reported.

“An allegation of rape is a serious offence for any man to face. He was arrested and interviewed and it turned out that it was down to a false allegation.

“It’s disappointing that this allegation was made and it’s a pity that he was subjected to that.

“Undoubtedly, there was public alarm caused by the report of this offence.

“People would be affected when they went out for an evening, thinking a sex attacker remained at large.

“However, we still want to encourage women to come forward to report these crimes and we undertake to investigate any allegations.”